Islam Abohela was awarded the Jeffrey Cook Memorial Scholarship 2013 to attend the Society of Building Science Educators (SBSE) Retreat 2013: Measuring Design: Models + Metrics which took place in Pomona, California between 21 and 23 June 2013.

The scholarship was awarded on a competitive basis following review of all applications received. Islam was invited to give a presentation at the Retreat about his past and current teaching and research activities. His presentation outlined three lines of research including the eViz project. The presentation included an outline of the eViz project and the preliminary results from the simulations of two test houses in Newcastle and Plymouth.

Among the concluding remarks of the Retreat were recommendations regarding using smart devices for visualizing energy consumption in buildings for informing occupants of potential energy saving which is one of the main objectives of the eViz project.  The attendees of the Retreat showed interest in the eViz project and requested communicating further results with them. The retreat was a great opportunity to explore potential future cooperation with other researchers especially in the USA and Canada since most of the attendees were from Northern America.